Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

From time to time we go recycling, and in Silicon Valley that always meant having a poke around the electronics waste bins. One day Don bought a bunch of industrial-strength magnets, and you wouldn’t believe how many times we’ve used them and for how many different things. I’ve had this love affair with magnets from the first time I saw them repel each other, and yes, I used to have magnetic words on my fridge, back when I had a fridge that could hold them. I guess I get my magnet fix this day by playing the licence plate bingo game I bought in Target one year. ;)

So I like the fact that there’s a magnet in usa game, and kids might too. Magnext brand gives you dozens of pieces to built into robots and other adventures. If I were buying for a kid I’d start with a 140-piece tub and add accessories depending on what she wanted to do with the set. This is like a high-tech version of the bricks I used to build Caer Paravel when I was ten or so. (I would probably have ended up building a space station modeled on Stonehenge if I’d had this cool stuff.)

Imagination, creativity–all these come into play with Magnext. And then you can add some dinosaurs and robots and really make things go. Before I’d know it the RV would be attracting every nail for twenty miles and I’d have an i-coaster plummeting through the stratosphere. ;)

This is Lockeford sausage. One of the annoying events mentioned yesterday led us to this location. (I’m going to cut this now to spare the vegetarians further offence.)

Lockeford is (more…)

As we pulled into Flying J for one of our last overnights, we were joined by a truckload of tomatoes.

So, was the road trip to San Joaquin County a bunch of rotten tomatoes? Well, let’s see.

I lost two months of useful internet access, which meant that my unveiling of Markeroni IV was two months later than I’d wanted. On the other hand, I was able to read, think, plot, and process a ton of National Register data entries for later input. This is useful, but I was very bored.

I was able to hang out with Amber, meet WanderingRaleighite, re-meet Kat, and go on a few nice snarfaris.

We consolidated two storage sheds into one, and at least took stock of what was in there. We now save about 10% each month but the trip was so expensive and fraught with annoying, niggly stupid events that it will take us several years to break even. On the other hand, it seems likely that we will still have the shed in several years, so we will break even, and at least we can get to the things we need now.

My muscles built up a bit and I lost weight.

I got to try several new restaurants, and Lockeford sausages too.

I didn’t, overall, have fun — but at least some useful stuff was achieved.

Happy New Year!

It is possible that these birds were arriving, just as we were getting ready to depart.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find this logo exceptionally creepy and less-inclined-to-buy-making.

I would not want to buy from these guys. My head might fall off!

Amber and I wandered over to the place where I had dinner on my birthday — and I can’t remember, off the top of my head, what it’s called. It’s the something creamery. We had breakfast; this was our fond, but temporary, farewell. Soon, I would be heading back home.

I’m very fond of American-style scrambles, by the way, with all the veggies and stuff mixed in. Nom!

Sometimes you see some really neat stuff in truck stops. Here, we woke up next to a vehicle carrier full of old VW Bugs. No matter what condition they’re in, they’re always really cute and good for a smile.

And, by this stage in the “great Stockton adventure”, I was ready to take any smile I could get.

Vast swathes of tomatoes are left at the roadside. After Mary mentioned her driving lessons in tomato-land, I couldn’t resist taking a few more shots.

If you were willing to clean them off, you could probably make spaghetti sauce for a year from the wastage.

I don’t like wastage.

Couldn’t miss this buttercup yellow vintage classic coming down the road. I like old cars. :)

And then, just a few hundred feet further, you’d see a perfectly irrigated field, bright, green and fresh.

Never did figure out what they were growing, though.